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Wiktionary

calcine

See also: calciné

English

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WOTD – 19 April 2022

Etymology

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The verb is derived from Late Middle English calcinen (“(alchemy, medicine) to heat (something) until it turns to powder; to change the nature of (something) by heating”) [and other forms],[1] from Old French calciner (modern French calciner (“to calcinate; to calcine”)) and from its etymon Medieval Latin calcināre (“(alchemy) to burn like lime; to reduce to calx”),[2] from Late Latin calcīna (“inorganic material containing calcium, lime”) + -āre (suffix forming present active infinitive forms of verbs). Calcīna is derived from Latin calcis, the genitive singular of calx (“chalk; limestone”),[3] possibly from Ancient Greek χᾰ́λῐξ (khálix, “small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble”); further etymology unknown, possibly Pre-Greek.

The noun is derived from the verb.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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calcine (third-person singular simple present calcines, present participle calcining, simple past and past participle calcined)

  1. (transitive)
    1. (alchemy, historical) To heat (a substance) to remove its impurities and refine it.
    2. (physical chemistry) To heat (a substance) without melting in order to drive off water, etc., and to oxidize or reduce it; specifically, to decompose (carbonates) into oxides, and, especially, to heat (limestone) to form quicklime.
      Synonyms: (obsolete) calcinate, chark
    3. (by extension) To heat (something) to dry and sterilize it.
    4. (figuratively)
      1. To purify or refine (something).
      2. To burn up (something) completely; to incinerate; hence, to destroy (something).
        Synonym: (obsolete) calcinize
        • [1633], George Herbert, “Easter”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 33:
          [A]s his death calcined thee to duſt, / His life may make thee gold, and much more juſt.
        • 1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “The First Part”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, →OCLC, section 50, page 108:
          I vvould gladly knovv hovv Moſes vvith an actuall fire calcin'd or burnt the Golden Calfe unto povvder, for that myſticall metall of Gold, vvhoſe ſolary and celeſtiall nature I admire, expoſed unto the violence of fire, grovveth onely hot and liquifies, but conſumeth not: […]
        • 1668, John Denham, “The Progress of Learning”, in Poems and Translations, with The Sophy, 4th edition, London: […] [John Macock] for H[enry] Herringman […], →OCLC, page 181:
          Fiery diſputes, that Union have calcin'd, / Almoſt as many minds as men vve find, / And vvhen that flame finds combuſtible Earth, / VVhence Fatuus fires and Meteors take their birth, / Legions of Sects, and Inſects come in throngs; / To name them all, vvould tire a hundred tongues.
        • 1855, Robert Browning, “‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.’”, in Men and Women […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, stanza 11, page 139:
          It nothing skills: I cannot help my case: / The Judgment's fire alone can cure this place, / Calcine its clods and set my prisoners free.
        • 1877, Alfred Tennyson, Harold: A Drama, London: Henry S. King & Co., →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 74:
          […] He fain had calcined all Northumbria / To one black ash, but that thy patriot passion / Siding with our great Council against Tostig, / Out-passion'd his!
  2. (intransitive, physical chemistry) Of a substance: to undergo heating so as to oxidize it.

Conjugation

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Conjugation of calcine
infinitive (to) calcine
present tense past tense
1st-person singular calcine calcined
2nd-person singular calcine, calcinest† calcined, calcinedst†
3rd-person singular calcines, calcineth† calcined
plural calcine
subjunctive calcine calcined
imperative calcine —
participles calcining calcined

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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calcine (plural calcines)

  1. Something calcined; also, material left over after burning or roasting.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “calcīnen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “calcine, v.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021.
  3. ^ “calcine, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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French

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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calcine

  1. inflection of calciner:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

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Noun

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calcine f

  1. plural of calcina

Portuguese

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Verb

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calcine

  1. inflection of calcinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

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Verb

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calcine

  1. inflection of calcinar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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